Your favorite meal

If you are single and alone, what tasty and nutritious food do you like to prepare? If you have a favorite recipe that you make, feel free to post it here.

I enjoy making noodles and putting alfredo sauce, to which I add shrimp, over it. It is so yummy, quick and easy.

I also enjoy making a pot of chili and re-heating it for several days in a row. I don't have a recipe - I just toss some ingredients into a stew pot and let it simmer for awhile - makes the whole house smell awesome!

See there, you went and ruined it by wanting tasty AND nutritious. If I go to the trouble of cooking just for me you can bet it probably won't be nutritious. SO, I guess my contribution will be a Mandarin Chicken Salad from Wendy's using my own V&O dressing. (picked up on the way home) This is one of the few salads I can tolerate without crackers, breadsticks or some such thing. It's filling and lower in calories than any of the other takeout I can find around here.

I love a mixture of salad greens, topped with a salmon steak (or chicken breast) seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and fresh lemon juice. I use Bernstein's Restaurant Recipe Italian dressing on it -- yummy! Other big favorites are: Soup with lots of veggies and chicken breast with PACE picante sauce added to the bowl, and cheese enchiladas topped with a fried egg and shredded lettuce on the side. It's 6 AM and just writing this is making me hungry, LOL!

I have gotten to LOVE cooking my own meals, just since January 2007! My attempts at various dishes keep changing, sometimes more advanced, sometimes more simple. Last night it was chicken thighs I wanted to use up, dipped into Italian seasoned bread crumbs, with parmesan cheese and more thyme mixed into the crumbs, then baked. Steamed red potatoes tossed with olive oil, more parmesan cheese, and parsley, then a spinach salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. I have a couple of different pasta and meat combos, ground turkey or ground chicken, browned then combined with Classico Spicy Tomato and Basil sauce, garlic, lots of oregano, then mixed with multi color rotini, last of all, melting shredded cheese on top. then there is the whole wheat pasta, (I think it is rigatoni) with Classico garlic alfredo sauce, pieces of baked chicken thrown in, sauteed mushrooms in it, and then wilting fresh spinach into it. That one is a variation on a Giada DeLaurentis recipe from the Food Network. And so many more dishes... grilled or baked seasoned fish, steamed asparagus with olive oil and lemon juice dressing...mmm...what is there to try next?? :)

I LOVE cooking now, going out alone to feel uncomfortable in a restaurant, no way, not since discovering that I can make my own delicious (and healthier) meals...

I have been cooking up a storm lately and dug out all my gramma's old recipes. The current favorite is a killer clam chowder. If anyone wants, I'll post the recipe. I've also been making homemade spaghetti and linguini noodles. Can't beat 'em!

But, I have to be careful to not enjoy them too much. After years of having way too many extra pounds, I got down to the same weight I was in college. I need to keep it there.

You are all posting wonderful ideas - keep them coming! My husband cooked when I was married, so I got out of the habit. I am always looking for recipes that are easy and nutritious - I have a 17-yr. old stepson still at home, and I like for him to have SOME good food. I am going to keep your ideas - THANKS!

Beef barley soup made with short-ribs. Serve with toasted home-made bread and a good Merlot. Takes most of the day to put it together and make it right but my girl-guests remember it for years -- long after they've forgotten whether they actually liked me much or not. Freezes well, too, so I don't hesitate to make a big pot. Friendship-food.

In a separate pan, melt 1 stick butter and add 1/2 cup flour. Cook until thick. In another pan, heat 4 cups milk until pretty warm and then whisk the flour and butter mixture into it. Don't cook the milk while whisking. Cook milk mixture until thick.

Add thick milk mixture into stock pot along with juice only from three 6 1/2 oz. cans of minced clams. Let the stock pot get pretty hot and add clams from 3 cans into it. Cook 10 more minutes and serve. Parsely to garnish.

One of my favorite quick meals;
Boil a couple cups of elbow macaroni(or spaghetti) with some frozen mixed veggies and diced onion, and when done mix in a can of microwave heated chilli with beans, maybe some added crumbled up burger.
The Left-Overs are even better after a day or two in fridge.

Cut into dollars, 1/4" thick, coated in Worcestershire sauce, melted butter, and salt and pepper, then broiled for 5-6 minutes on each side, served with light sour cream for dipping.

The breakfast side dish version, cubed up, cooked in a light amount of vegetable oil, onions included, and dried thyme, cooked until the potatoes are the right softness/firmness, the onions end up kind of caramelized.

I haven't had a good batch of that stuff in 40 years! And I know nothing of spatzel. And I've never understood paprika. Assuming you've got a good, time-tested recipe, may I request it? You've made me hungry!

Roll meet in flour, brown in oil with onion, garlic and caraway seeds. Add chicken broth and paparika. Transfer to crock pot and cook on med all day.

Serve with spaetzle.

sorry for the vague direction. I dont really know the amount of ingredient to put in, i just put in what i think it needs, All you vetern cooks out there will know what i'm saying. It's all basically to taste. You do need to use a lot of paparika though, probably about 4 big tablespoons.

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add egg; mix. Add water gradually until batter is stiff but smooth. Press dough flat on a plate or floured board. With a sharp knife, scrape small pieces of dough off and drop into boiling salted water. There should be only one layer at a time of spaetzle cooking. Boil gently for 5 to 8 minutes, or until done to your taste. Remove with perforated spoon and let drain. Serve as a side dish with meat. Serve right away or sautthe finished spaetzle in butter until golden.

The spaetzle recipe I pulled off the internet, there was no way could put it on paper the way I make it.

I love to cook but rarely have an appreciative audience or the luxury of oodles of time to do it right. My daughter likes my cooking but will eat a few nibbles. My son isn't around much. I sometimes cook for friends. I still am in the habit of cooking for a battalion once I get started. The other day I made portobello/spinach lasagna with a bechamel and homemade noodles. Time consuming but very good.

I also love to bake but am hampered by a broken oven at the moment. I still make bread in the breadmaker, though. I made rosemary bread to go with the lasagna the other day. I prefer hand-formed bread, the texture is far better.

I took up canning this summer when I had access to a bounty of free peaches and apricots. Otherwise, it hardly seems worth the effort. I made peach butter, nectarine butter, and froze apricot and nectarine crisps to bake this winter. I am waiting for my friend's Meyer lemon crop to ripen so I can make lemon marmalade for all of us.

For myself, my meals are snacks at best. A slice of cheese, a piece of fruit, a glass of wine in the evening. I often eat breakfast lunch out while working.

Gabrielesgarden, I tend to be creative with recipes so bear with me. I began with this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa and added 2 layers of fresh wilted spinach mixed with sauteed (in butter) minced shallots and garlic. I also added 2 layers of ricotta, egg, and grated provolone.